Coupling-operating mechanism.



W. BLACKMOR E.

COUPLING OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 30. 1915.

Patented 0613.17,1916.

2 snezrs-snzn I W. BLACKMORE. COUPLING OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 30, I915.

Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WILLIAM BLACIHVIOBE, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOB, TO THE NATIONAL IVIALLE- ABLE CASTINGS COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

COUPLING-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

Application filed September 30, 1915. Serial No; 53,241.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BLAGKMORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Coupling-Operating Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a section of a coupler showing the application of my invention thereto, and with the parts in locked position; Fig. 2 is a section similar to Fig. 1, but with the parts in knuckle-thrown position; Fig. 3 is a section on lines III-III of Fig. 1, and Fig. 41 is an elevation thereof.

My invention relates to car couplers, and particularly to car coupler operating mechanism, and consists in providing the coupler with sideoperating mechanism, which permits the coupler to be operated by a direct side pull, and in constructing the coupler head so as to prevent cinders, water, etc., from working into the coupler cavity through the opening employed for the operating mechanism.

My invention also consists in the construc-. tion and cooperation of parts which I shall hereinafter describe and claim.

Referring to the drawings, in which I have shown my invention applied to a coupler of the Sharon type, such as is illustrated in the Letters Patent of Clinton A. Tower, No. 999,915, dated August 8, 1911, A indicates the coupler head, B the knuckle, C the lock and D the operating lever. The lever D has at one end a laterally-extending arm 2, a finger 3 of which passes through the eye 4 in the lock C which, in this embodiment of my invention, also constitutes the knuckle-throwing member. At the upper end of the lever D is a horizontally-extending lug 5, which seats in an aperture 6 ofthe clevis 7. Intermediate its ends the lever has a socketed engagement 9 with a projection 10 on the inside of the coupler head. On the under side of the clevis 7 is a lockto-the-lock or anti-creep shoulder 11, which engages the beveled surface 12 on the wall on the-pivot-pin side of the coupler head, above the projection 10. The uncoupling mechanism 13 is connected to the eye 14 of the clevis 7.

In assemblir g the parts, the clevis 7 is first passed through the opening 15 in the side of the coupler. head and the lever D is then inserted through the front opening into the coupler cavity, and its lug 5 passed through the aperture 6 of the clevis 7. The lever D is then lifted up until its upper end, with the clevis attached, lies between the back wall 16 of the coupler head and the downwardlyextending wall 17, and the socket 9 seats upon the projection 10 of the coupler head. The lock 0 is next inserted .and the finger 3 of the lever is passed through the eye 4 of the lock. The knuckle B is then put in place, its tail supporting the look when in locked position, as is shown in Fig. 1. The

engagement between the socket 9 of the lever D and the pro ection 10 on the coupler head is maintainedby the bearing of the finger" 3 in the eye 4 of the lock, which prevents the lever D moving laterally toward the guardarm side of the coupler head. The clevis 7 cannot become disengaged from the lug 5 of the lever because the fit of the clevis and the upper end of the lever between the walls 16 and 17 will not allow them to separate a suflicient distance to permit the lug 5 to move out of the aperture 6, as is shown in Fig. 4c.

In operating the coupler, a pull on the uncoupling member 13 will first tip up the clevis 7 so that its anti-creep shoulder 11 will clear the beveled surface 12 on the coupler head. A further pull on the uncoupling member 13 will cause the lever D to fulcrum about the projection 10 and thereby cause the finger 3 to lift the lock clear of the tailof the knuckle B. A still further actuation by the uncoupling member 13 will lift the look so as to bring its socket 18 into engagement with the depending projection 19 and cause it to fulcrum thereupon so that the depending leg 20 of the lock will act upon the knuckle tail to throw it open, as is shownv in 'Fig. 2. When the uncoupling member is released, the leg 20 of the lock will drop down upon and be supported on the floor of the coupler cavity, in which position it will remain until the closing of the knuckle drops it into lowermost position, such as is shown in Fig. 1.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any mechanical equivalents of the features shown and described, or

portions thereof, but recognize that various structural modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

That I claim is:

1. In a coupler-operating mechanism, a coupler having a pivoted knuckle and a lock, an operating lever substantially contained within the coupler head and having a pivotal engagement with the lock and a fulcrum bearing on the inner face of a. wall of the coupler head, an actuating member and a connection between an end of the operating lever and the actuating mechanism.

2.. In a coupler having a pivoted knuckle and a locking and opening piece, an operating mechanism substantially contained Within the coupler head comprising a lever secured to the locking and opening piece and connected to an actuating mechanism, said lever being adapted to fulcrum on'a bearing in the coupler cavity to lift the lock and said lock being actuated by the lever to fulcrum on a bearing substantially parallel to the first named bearing in the coupler cavity to throw the knuckle.

3. In a coupler operating mechanism, a coupler head having therein a pivoted knuckle and a lock, and an operating lever substantially contained within the coupler cavity having a pivotal engagement with the lock at one end, a connection with an actuating member at the other end and a fulcrum bearing within the coupler cavity intermediate its ends said connection having a bearing against an inclined wall in the coupler cavity adapted to prevent creeping of the lock and being adapted to be disengaged from the coupler head by the initial movement of the actuating mechanism to permit the parts to be operated.

I. A coupler comprising a head, a pivoted knuckle, a look, a lock lifting lever, and actuating mechanism therefor, said lock having a locking head, and a depending tail connected by an intermediate fulcrum, and said lever being located entirely within the coupler head, and above the knuckle tail, and pivoting on a fulcrum located on an in side Vertical wall of said head, one arm of said lever being connected to the lock, and the other arm to the actuating mechanism, said actuating mechanism being operable in substantially a horizontal direction and at right angles to the longitudinal center line of the coupler.

5. In a car coupler, a coupler head, a pivoted knuckle, a lock, and a lock lifting lever, said lock having a fulcrum engagement with a wall of the coupler head to swing in a vertical plane, said lifting lever being of bell crank form having a socket intermediate its ends adapted to fulcrum on an inner side wall of the coupler head, one end of said lever being attached'to a substantially horizontally movable actuating mechanism adapted to exert a pull at right angles to the coupler, the other end of said lever engaging said lock, said lever being at all times inclosed within the cavity of the coupler head.

6. In a car coupler, a pivoted knuckle, a locking and opening piece and operating mechanism therefor substantially contained within the coupler head, a fulcrum bearing within said coupler head above said locking and opening piece, said lockingand opening piece being adapted to lock and unlock the knuckle by a bodily vertical movement, and to throw the knuckle by a rotative movement in a substantially vertical plane about said fulcrum bearing, said operating mechanism comprising a lever pivoted to said locking and opening piece having a fulcrum bearing upon an inner Wall of said coupler head and being adapted to lift and rotate said locking and opening piece by a rotary movement in a substantially vertical plane.

7. In a coupler having a pivoted knuckle and a combined locking and opening piece and operating mechanism therefor contained substantially within the coupler head, said operating mechanism comprising a two armed lever, one arm of said lever being attached to the locking and opening piece and the other arm being attached to actuating mechanism by means of a link extending normally in a downward direction through a side wall of the coupler head and having a shouldered engagement With said side wall to prevent upward creeping of the locking and opening piece, said link upon initial movement of the actuating mechanism being adapted to be raised to a substantially horizontal position to disengage its shouldered engagement with the coupler head.

WILLIAM BLA CKMORE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. 0. 

